Sword & Sworcery - taking it to the next level

There's one app I absolutely need to tell you about. It goes by the name of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP(Or S:S&SE for short), and it's currently the Featured Game on the app store. It used to be an iPad exclusive, but luckily for us handheld users, it was recently made universal to iPod/iPhones as well. It is an odd mix of a 2D point & click game and quicktime events, and boy, does it work.

You control a character known as "The Scythian", navigating a mystical realm on your quest. Along the way, you retrieve such objects as the Megatome (not kidding!) and the Golden Trigon. You must utilize sworcery (which, I am told, is a kind of magic) to unlock the secrets of the land.

The game's main forte lies in its graphics. The developers call it an audiovisual experience, and I'm hard pressed to find a better way to describe it. The visuals are expansive, yet retro-styled amazingly well. The audio is incredibly immersive. The game's humor is extremely charming - it doesn't take itself too seriously (something far too many games tend to do), either ("Logfella had the feeling that it was a time of miracles & he wondered if maybe something awesome was about to happen." "We got The Gold Trigon. We are so awesome.").

One of the best parts of the game, though, is the combat system. Remember when I said quicktime events? They shine. So very, very much. It takes away from the dullness of traditional turn-based encounters masterfully - in fact, my only complaint about this game is that there's not a lot of combat in the early parts of it. Even the way you are able to shift freely between combat mode and movement mode by flipping your device 90 degrees is masterful (at one point, you are required to enter combat mode in order to threaten a rainbow). It does take a little while for the game to get started, but honestly - you owe this game at least playing through the first chapter (there are 6, currently).

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is $2.99 on the app store. Get it. Right away. Hell, you should've been installing it while you read this.